Graft robs grace

Retired IAS officer V Balasubramanian in his book Fall From Grace reveals how corruption in bureaucracy and stilted chief ministers have brought down the administration
Graft robs grace

BENGALURU: While the Indian Administrative Service is associated with honour, power and position, when some aspirants finally enter the realm of bureaucracy, they encounter a machinery which is diametrically opposite the idyll. Assimilating his experiences of 38 years of service, retired IAS officer of the 1965-batch V Balasubramanian has written Fall From Grace, unravelling how corruption in the highest echelons – politics and judiciary – has become ubiquitous, attracting little social stigmatisation.

The title is a description of the loss of credibility and respect of political leaders and those leading the bureaucracy over the past five decades. In 2001, Balasubramanian retired as the chairman of the Task Force for the Prevention of Land Grabbing in Karnataka, where he uncovered land encroachment by those holding positions of power. When the government refused to print his report, titled ‘Greed and connivance’, he published and circulated it himself.

Across the country, Karnataka’s position was among the top in terms of administration, which plunged when S Bangarappa became the chief minister, as he dismantled institutions by appointing people steeped in corruption in several departments. The book is an assessment of how the administration has deteriorated over time, its ‘fall from grace’. IAS officers are not restricted to a certain department or a ministry unlike other services.

“In my 38 years of service, I’ve held about 10-15 positions, and have gathered a lot of experience. But not everyone writes about those days,” admits Balasubramanian, whose tenure spanned several chief ministers, including Veerendra Patil , Devaraj Ursand Ramakrishna Hegde in different positions, giving him a strategic position to observe these leaders.

The book is replete with significant incidents and situations he had to manage during his service, but they are not arranged chronologically but are highlights which he could recall. Balasubramanian reveals that the idea of writing down some of the events of his career was churning in his mind for a long time. He was waiting for the right time and inclination.

“The Covid-19 pandemic gave me enough time to put it all together on paper. It took me around five months to finish writing it and another five to six months were spent to get it published. So the book took about a year to come out,” he adds. He is an ardent admirer of former Chief Minister Devaraj Urs, who was the first of his category to try to usher in certain changes in the state to uplift backward classes, Dalits, minorities and propel them in political power, and he was successful.

Balasubramanian has written about Urs’ administration extensively, and says the former Chief Minister had a close connection with the district administration. He was also secretary to Ramakrishna Hegde for three years, and termed him a good Chief Minister who did not try any experiments to alter the power structure in Karnataka.

“Those who succeeded him like Bangarappa, SM Krishna, and others, with whom I have worked, do not come close to Urs and Hegde. They never collected money for themselves but for the party, unlike others. I have mentioned that in my book, and that’s how the administration was destroyed,” he explains. The subtitle of his book is ‘The memoirs of a rebel IAS officer’. “I was quite clear in my mind about what I’m going to put on paper from the beginning. I did not rebel against the state by definition. I felt that people have a right to know,” he says of his intention behind the book.

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